Saved by Sin [Paladin Protection Agency 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (6 page)

“He hurt you?” Sinjin’s voice was soft, but there was something about his expression, a gleam in his eye that made her feel certain he didn’t like hearing she’d been hurt.

“He hurt me,” she confirmed simply, a nightmare’s share of memories summed up in those three short words. “He’d hurt me, and then I’d try to leave and he’d always be so apologetic, so sorry. He always promised me he’d never do it again. He’d swear that he’d get help, that he loved me. He always found me. Always wore me down. And I always went back to him. I was such a fool.” Anger rose up in her again as she talked. She was angry at him for the lies, and at herself for believing them.

“No one deserves to be treated that way.” Sinjin reached out and took her hand, his strong fingers curling around hers, offering comfort.

“No, they don’t. I finally realized that he was never going to change, and I started planning a proper escape. It took me some time to arrange everything. I worked at one of his companies, so I needed a new job. I had to find a new place to live, somewhere he wouldn’t know to look for me. I went to see a lawyer and found out what I should do to get a restraining order, how to protect myself legally, the works. I even ditched the cell phone he paid for. He’d tracked me down with it before so I knew I had to get rid of it. I left one day while he was in a meeting out of town. I just packed my things and ran.”

“What did he do when he found out?”

“Apparently he went crazy. He called all my friends demanding they tell him where I’d gone. Not that I had many friends left. He’d made sure I’d cut ties with most of them. He phoned the police and tried to report me as a missing person, but I hadn’t been gone long enough for them to take a report. I had my lawyer file the restraining order the next morning, and he let the police know what was going on. They were the ones who told him about the missing person report. I stayed hidden, and after a few days, he stopped calling my friends. I guess he realized I was really gone for good. It all seemed like it was going to be okay, and then last week I got a call from the police department. Robert had killed himself. He left a note saying that he couldn’t live in a world where I wasn’t with him, and that I was all the joy he’d had in his life.”

“What a bastard.” Sinjin shook his head in obvious disbelief. “He offed himself and made sure you felt guilty about it? Unbelievable! So why do you think he’s haunting you?”

“I don’t feel guilty, not really.” Michelle’s denial came out sharper than she’d wanted, but she needed Sinjin to believe her. “I felt a little guilty, of course I did, but mostly I felt relief. If he was dead, then I was free. I wouldn’t have to hide from him anymore. His funeral was yesterday. I didn’t go. When I got back from a run, there was a letter waiting for me. A letter he’d written to me before he died. There was no postage, so he must have had someone deliver it. He’d found me again. He said he forgave me, and that he’d be watching, waiting for another chance for us to be together.”

“Son of a bitch,” Sinjin swore and took a long pull on his beer. “Your ex was one sick puppy.”

“Oh, it gets worse.” Michelle was surprised at how much better she felt to say it all out loud. Weeks of worry and fear eased as she shared the story for the first time. “Right after that, Robert’s mother Nancy arrived at my building. I have no idea how she tracked me down, but she did. She was fresh from the funeral no less. She blamed me for her son’s death and kept going on and on about her precious Bobby. Then she tells me he left everything to me, changed his will just days before he died. She was furious.” Michelle shuddered at the memory. “That was when I realized just how similar mother and son were. The Tanners are not a family to mess with.”

Sinjin blinked at her, his mouth opening in shock. “Bobby Tanner? As in Robert Tanner III, Vice President of Tanner Entertainment?”

“That would be him.” She wondered how he’d known, Robert had been big money locally, but he was hardly a household name.

Sinjin blew out a low whistle. “You were with Robert Tanner. Damn, it’s hard to see the attraction.” He grinned and threw up a placating hand. “I mean, I see why he wanted you, but what in the hell did you see in him? He was a nasty piece of work.”

“You knew him?” Michelle felt her jaw drop. “How?”

“I work for Paladin Protection. I’m a security advisor, which is a fancy way of saying I’m a very well-paid bodyguard. One of our clients was your ex.” Sinjin shrugged. “I didn’t like him much, and the feeling was mutual. We ended our contract with him over a year ago, which is why you and I never met.” His fingers tightened around hers. “If we had, I’d of felt the need to talk you into getting away from him. I knew what he liked to do to women, the coward.”

“Small world.” Michelle’s heart was racing now. What were the odds of her running into someone who knew Robert? Who knew what he was really like?

“Sometimes it seems very damned small indeed.” He squeezed her hand again. “So you inherited everything? Why do you think he did that? His mother must have had a complete breakdown when she got that bit of news. She’s old money, isn’t she?”

“When she told me, I was in shock and all I could think was that this was his way of trying to make me feel guilty. That he was still trying to control me somehow. Now though, I think he had another reason. I think he’s still here in some form. He’s still trying to be with me.”

“He’s dead, Michelle. How is that even possible?”

“You heard him outside. He said ‘mine.’ Well, that’s not the only time I’ve heard him. Last night I woke up to someone calling my name, and then when I went outside to clear my head I heard him whispering to me, and something touched me. I thought it was the wind at first, but it was more like a caress. I got scared and headed back inside. I told myself it was just stress. I came up here to get away for a few days.” She drew her legs up to her chest. Just talking about what had happened in the bathtub made her feel exposed again. “Tonight when I was taking a bath, I dozed off, and woke up because I felt something was in the water with me. It was stroking my leg and uh, higher.”

She blushed and curled her legs up even tighter. Suddenly afraid he’d think she really
was
crazy. “When I tried to get out of the bathtub, I couldn’t. It was like the water had turned solid. I couldn’t get out. That’s when you heard me screaming. I heard Robert’s voice calling my name. He was calling me Chelle, his personal nickname for me, one I hated. He was telling me he was going to be with me forever. I dragged myself over the lip of the tub and started running and didn’t stop until I ran smack dab into you.”

“You don’t think it was just a dream?” Sinjin asked softly, but she couldn’t hear any doubt in his words, just sincere curiosity.

“You heard it, too, so no, I don’t think it was a dream. It was horribly, terribly real.”

“Let me see your stomach, baby.” He set his beer aside and moved closer. His hand was resting on the quilt, waiting for permission to move it away. When she nodded, he pulled the blanket back to reveal her stomach, and he made a small noise of sympathy when he saw the red line of newly formed bruises that spanned her midriff.

“I didn’t realize I’d done that.” She was amazed to see how much damage she’d done to herself getting out of the bathtub.

“Adrenaline will do that to you.” He reached out and stroked her skin tenderly. “Tomorrow, you’re going to really feel that. But it proves your story. You don’t get bruising like that without a hell of a lot of force, and just getting out of a tub normally wouldn’t do it. You had to be fighting against something.”

She felt relief as he told her he believed her, and the moment she relaxed, an ear-splitting yawn came over her and she had to cover her mouth to hide it.

“You’re exhausted.” He sat up, kissed her gently, and then stood, tugging back the covers before coming around to her side of the bed again. “You need to rest.” He picked her up, quilt and all, and carried her around to where he’d been lying. Very gently he settled her into the bed, and unwrapped the quilt from around her so she could curl up beneath the covers. Once she was comfortable he spread it out over top of her and tucked her in with a smile. He then slid his track pants off unself-consciously and grinned at her as he claimed the side of the bed she’d been lying on. “And here I thought I was going to have to wait until tomorrow to get you back in bed.”

With that, he turned out the light and moved in beside her, curling his larger body around hers protectively. “Go to sleep, Michelle. I’ll take care of you, I promise.”

She snuggled in close, grateful for his warm, solid presence next to her. “Thank you, Sinjin. If you hadn’t believed me, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“I’m glad I was here for you.” She felt his lips brush over her hair as she drifted off to sleep at last.

* * * *

She woke up, stretched, and yelped as her bruised stomach protested the movement. “Ow,” she muttered, her hand coming round to instinctively cover where she was sore.

“Good morning, my bruised beauty.” Sinjin’s voice was by her ear, a mix of sympathy and amusement in his tone. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but I’ll live.” Michelle reached behind her, stroking up his hard, muscled thigh as she carefully wiggled backward until she felt his body pressing into hers. “Did you sleep well?”

“Very well.” His voice held a note of surprise. “The best I’ve slept in weeks.” She felt him stroke back her hair from her neck, nuzzling his lips to her newly bared skin. “I want you, but I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.

“We’ll just have to go slow,” she whispered back, desire already sizzling through her at the mere thought of having him inside her again.

“I can do slow.” His words thrummed with promise and conjured up images that made Michelle’s thighs clench together, her pussy suddenly wet with need. He shifted behind her, and then she could feel his cock, already hard, resting against the back of her thighs. “Lie still.” He nibbled lightly on her neck, and she had to bite back a moan as his tongue danced over her skin and around the curve of her ear. Forgetting his instructions, she arched her hips back against his cock and winced as the ache across her stomach flared again.

“You aren’t very good at taking orders, are you, baby?” He chuckled near her ear and smoothed his hand to her hip, holding her still as he rubbed his body along hers. “Trust me. I won’t do anything to hurt you. All I want to do is make you feel good.”

She nodded and his hand moved off of her hip to stroke gently down to her knee. Then he lifted her leg so that it rose up over his, opening her thighs. He positioned her so that her calf dangled behind his leg and then blew a soft puff of air across her ear. “Yes?”

“Yes,” she sighed in answer, reaching back to brush her fingertips over the tip of his cock. She felt him twitch as she touched him, and the faint hiss of air that escaped his lips told her he was as on edge and aching as she was.

“Two can play at that game,” was all the warning he gave her as his fingers dipped between her legs and into her folds, sliding over her clit to plunge straight into her already slick pussy.

“Oh god!” she moaned as his fingers filled her, scissoring to stretch her wider. The moment she moved her hips, he stopped, his teeth nipping her earlobe just enough to sting. “Stay still. No moving.”

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered in frustration. Her clit ached to be touched. Her skin was on fire, and she wanted him, now.

“Tell me what you need, Michelle. Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”

He moved his hand, his fingers withdrawing and then entering her again, and then again. “Tell me, Michelle,” he coaxed her, insistent.

“I—I need you to touch me, please, Sinjin.” Her heart slammed harder in her chest as she made her whispered confession. She’d never asked for anything before, never had a lover who wanted to know what she needed.

“Touch you where? Tell me where, baby.”

“My clit, please touch my clit.” She could feel her cheeks flare hot, and she closed her eyes as she waited for him to laugh at her or tell her no, but instead he did just as she asked. He stroked over her clit with his thumb, pressing down hard enough she saw stars behind her eyelids. His fingers delved deep, moving in time to the slow, stroking pressure of his thumb on her clitoris. She had to fight to stay still, and she trembled with the effort. She ached to grind herself against his hand and make herself come.

“Patience, baby, stay with me. I promise it’s worth the wait.” He slid his other hand beneath her and reached around to tweak her nipple, rough fingers sending a jolt of raw pleasure straight through her body and making her inner muscles grip him hard. “I love the way you react when I touch you,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s sexy that you’re so responsive.” He pinched her breast again, pressing down hard with his thumb on her clit at the same time. Pleasure blurred into exquisite pain, and she moaned as an orgasm started to build and build. She couldn’t think past the incredible sensations coursing through her. Every touch of his fingers made her quiver, and soon even breathing seemed a nearly impossible task. He curved his fingers up high inside her and tapped the inner walls of her channel. Her orgasm came on with the fury of storm, sending her senses reeling as she came hard, screaming his name.

“Now that was truly beautiful.” His voice brought her back from the hazy fugue she’d been drifting in as the waves of pleasure slowly receded. “Ready for me? I don’t think I can wait any longer.”

“Mhmm,” she tried to answer, but all that came out of her mouth was a sultry moan of confirmation.

“Thank god, I am dying here.” He shifted his body lower, arching his hips so that his cock slid up and inside her in one smooth stroke. “Hell yes, that’s better,” he groaned, and she shuddered around him as his thick pole stretched her to her limits.

“So good,” she murmured, clamping her walls around him in welcome.

“Baby, if you keep doing that this is going to be a very short run.” His voice sounded nearly feral as it rumbled in her ear.